The romantic relationship between Company Commander Guo Yungang and Liu Yun had long been a favorite topic of conversation in the girls' dormitory. In fact, apart from when she was sleeping, Liu Yun was rarely in the dormitory. Whenever the girls had nothing else to do, they started to gossiping about their relationship. Naturally, there were two types of people who liked to choose this topic. One group were simply to like the gossip, who were bored and chatting for fun. The other group, however, was not so innocent. Their tone often carried a hint of jealousy, revealing a secret admiration or perhaps even unrequited love, for the company commander. It was true that the company commander was young and taller than the ordinary man. Though his uniform was faded like others, patched and bore no military insignia, he still wore it with such natural poise that he still cut a gallant and commanding figure. With his good family background and education, it was only natural that he would attract the admiration of many of the girls.
"Actually, Commander Guo doesn't even like Dr. Liu. Did You have noticed that Doc. Liu always follows the company commander? How shameless she is!"
"I did. Apparently, I heard that Commander Guo just treats her as a younger sister."
"I heard from someone in the second platoon that during their seasonal migration, Dr. Liu kept showing up in the boys' yurt without any sense of propriety. Commander Guo even scolded her more than once for it."
"Really? He scolded her in front of everyone?"
"Well, not exactly in public but a lot of people in the second platoon heard him shouting."
"What did he shout about?"
"Something about her needing to be more mindful of appearances and considerate of what others might think."
"Fake news? I have never heard the the boys had told about this. My classmate also was in the second platoon. If it were true, it would have spread like wildfire."
"How should I know? I'm just telling you what I heard heard from the second platoon."
"The second platoon, huh? I think it must be Ding Dazhong who told you. I have seen you two flirting each other. "
With that, the girls burst into playful laughter and started teasing and wrestling with each other.
Sitting in the corner of the kang, Li Weiwen was quietly reading her book. As she watched the others giggling and playfully wrestling with one another, she couldn't help but smile along. Ever since it became known that it was this seemingly timid Li Weiwen who had helped their beloved Sister Xu deliver her baby safely and ensure both mother and child were well, they began to see Li Weiwen in a different light. Their attitudes toward her noticeably changed. Those who had always been kind to her remained just as warm, but those who had once looked down on her began to change. They no longer looked at her with cold stares or treated her with arrogance or bullying. But Li Weiwen treated them equally no matter who they are, regardless of how they had acted before. Whenever they needed her any help every time, she was always ready to lend a hand. Particularly during their menstrual periods, her thoughtful care, especially the herbal tea she prepared, made them genuinely grateful. A few even looked into her green eyes and couldn't help but exclaim "What beautiful eyes you have!".
Of course, there was one exception among the girls ---- that was Dr. Liu Yun. In fact, even though they had been living under the same roof all along, she had never really paid any attention to Li Weiwen before. She hadn't even realized that Li Weiwen had a pair of green eyes. The main reason was that she seldom stayed in the dormitory except to sleep. She stayed either in her little medical room assigned to her or spending her time at the company headquarters where she tried to be near Commander Guo Yungang. Yes, she loved him. She had never tried to hide her admiration for Guo Yungang. From the moment she first saw him when she was just 14 and he was 20 years old, her heart had been firmly tied to him for a long time. So, using her father's military connections, she joined the army. After completing a short-time course of medical training, she had changed her position wherever Guo Yungang was transferred. But What truly made her disappointed was that Guo Yungang seemed to treat her as nothing more than a younger sister ---- a child of an old superior he had a responsibility to look after. She was painfully aware of this, which only made her more determined to stay closer to him. During their recent seasonal migration, when Guo Yungang decided to share the same yurt with other male comrades, she felt deeply unhappy. There was no private space for just the two of them to be alone. Even when they were alone and had nothing to do or talk about, she still relished those moments. She once suggested that he move out and find somewhere more private to stay, but he only gave her a strange look before turning away and riding off on his horse. Left with no choice, she shamelessly tried to squeeze into the men's yurt herself, which made the other male soldiers extremely uncomfortable and deeply embarrassed. Eventually, her behaviour provoked Guo Yungang to his limit. He erupted in fury and scolded her harshly. But even that didn't dissuade her. Although she became more restrained in her actions, she still seized every chance to stay close to him.
It wasn't until the recent emergency with Xu Yumei that she truly began to notice Li Weiwen. First, she began to realize that Guo Yungand, who had never paid any attention to Li Weiwen before, was now beginning to notice her or at the very least had become aware of her existence. And second, more powerfully, came the jealousy. She envied Li Weiwen's medical skill, which far surpassed her own. In the face of that critical moment when Xu Yumei went into difficult labor, Liu Yu, an 18 years old with basic medical training, didn't have known how to do. But Li Weiwen, a supposedly timid 17 years old girl, became surprisingly calm and composed. Unfazed by the emergency, she skillfully handled Xu Yumei's bleeding, prevented it from worsening and pulled her back from the brink of death without causing further complications. Liu Yun knew that she could never have done the same. For the first time, she felt truly threatened. Her role as the only medical professional in the company had been challenged. She no longer had the courage to boast in front of the boys that she saw herself as 'Little White Dove' from "Tracks in the Snowy Forest." In a fit of spite, she even began directing patients to Li Weiwen instead of treating them herself. This caused dissatisfaction among the company and eventually drew criticism from both Commander Guo and Political Instructor Zhang. This only fuelled her anger further, and she became even more arrogant, pointedly ignoring Li Weiwen as if she didn't exist.
Li Weibing was genuinely pleased to see the shift in people's attitudes toward Li Weiwen. After getting married and moving out of the shared dormitory, she had often worried that her younger sister might be bullied or worse, they constantly bring up her green eyes to single her out or make her feel out of place. While Li Weibing also knew the crews in the kitchen had treated Li Weiwen kindly under Xu Yumei's help, she couldn't be sure about the rest of the girls in the dormitory. So, whenever she had free time, she always invited Li Weiwen over to her home and take care of her own herbs or make some medicinal pills. Now, hearing from Li Weiwen herself that she had started to blend in and get along with the others, Li Weibing no longer felt worried about her sister. She had always known that Li Weiwen looked like weak and fragile from her appearance but, on the contrary, she was a surprising strength and quiet optimism. For example, take horseback riding. After the group had moved on during the relocation, the main mission for all newcomer, besides their regular work, was to learn learn how to ride. In such vast open terrain, if the people didn't know how to ride here, it was hard to go everywhere. Li Weiwen was small and slender so that she always had trouble mounting the horse. But she figured out her own method: she placed her foot into the stirrup, gripped the saddle tightly and bounced herself up little by little, refusing to let go. She would cling tightly, using each little hop to build momentum. Eventually, she would flop herself onto the saddle, belly-down and then slowly swing one leg over to sit upright. Of course, the horse couldn't just stand there waiting for her to get settled. The moment it began to move, she naturally fell off. Once, twice, ten times, twenty times. She kept practicing like that, again and again, trying to adjust and learn through trial and error. Many people were genuinely afraid that one day she might fall to her death. But to everyone's surprise, not only did she knew how to protect herself during those tumbles, but finally she learned how to ride the horse. Now she could mount quickly but her method was also so unique that people couldn't help but be impressed. It was from that moment that the people started to take notice her. From then on, someone began to want to talk with her though Li Weibing. And Xu Yumei began to pay more attention to this quiet girl who saved her life later.